January 18, 2014

New year, pink ribs

Happy new year, fellow knitters and readers! Let's make sure that 2014 is a good one, at least by doing our part to cover our loved ones, near and far, with comfy, colorful, warm knitted goods. The older I get, the shorter my yearly list of resolutions becomes; still, I have decided to adopt as mine the resolution, shared by a knitting pal, to finish one UFO a month this year. In my case, this will need to be one UFO's beside one started that very month. For clarity's sake, I will tag as UFO's all projects started in 2013 or (shudder) earlier.

But January is still young, so today I'll show off another recently- completed project instead. Meet the pink geometry scarf.

So pink, so sweet, so Koigu-lovely! I can't say enough about this neat little pattern, called the "Geometry Scarf" and published a long time ago in the first "Vogue-On-The-Go: Scarves" book. It is a vintage pattern, which calls for the addition of large beads at each corner. I have knitted it four times now, each time without beads, and each time with Koigu hand painted solid yarn.

I wrote last year about the tragedy that befell my last version of this scarf. Finishing this one, its replacement, has been soothing to my knitter's soul. My first two versions of the scarf, one brown, one olive green, were both given away, but this one will remain mine. One beauty of Koigu is that it doesn't shed, an appreciable quality when so many of my favorite scarves happen to contain soft but hairy fibers, like kid mohair or angora. I am counting on that excellent merino to behave itself when paired with my black gabardine raincoat. Assuming it will rain again in California, that is.

Nuts and bolts: the pattern is called Geometric Scarf, and calls for 3 skeins of Koigu. It is designed as a short scarf but I prefer something long enough to wrap around the neck. This one measures 62" in length and used up 3 1/2 skeins of Koigu KPPM, on #4 needles.

2013 ended on a strong Koigu note for me: I managed to start and finish two other projects with more Koigu from my stash. Photos and posts to come ASAP. I mean that.